Second Annual Camacho Film Festival
Second Annual Camacho Film Festival NR. Directed by Various, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring . Nine digital movies created by approximately 60 kids between the ages of 6-14 will debut at this Hollywood-style premiere. One of the films is titled “A Day in the Life of a Councilperson,” and is a production that…
Señorita Extraviada
Señorita Extraviada 2002, NR, 74 min. Directed by Lourdes Portillo, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring . Señorita Extraviada (Missing Young Woman) is the latest project from Oscar-nominated filmmaker Lourdes Portillo. Her film investigates the disturbing 12-years-and-still-counting mystery of the disappearance, rape, and murder of more than 270 young women – mostly maquilladora workers…
Dynamite Chicken
Dynamite Chicken 1969, R, 76 min. Directed by Ernest Pintoff, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Jimi Hendrix, Allen Ginsburg, Lenny Bruce, Al Goldstein, Paul Krassner, Malcolm X, Andy Warhol, Leonard Cohen, Joan Baez, Yoko Ono, John Lennon, Richard Pryor. This rarely screened melange of skits, songs, parodies, and old movie clips that feature…
First Annual Latino Comedy Film Night
First Annual Latino Comedy Film Night NR. Directed by Various, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring . This series of short comedy films from local and national filmmakers have been selected by members of Austin’s award-winning comedy troupe, the Latino Comedy Project, and members of Cine Las Americas. The films feature a wide range…
Bonnie and Clyde
Bonnie and Clyde 1967, R, 111 min. Directed by Arthur Penn, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Warren Beatty, Faye Dunaway, Gene Hackman, Estelle Parsons, Michael J. Pollard. So definitive in so many ways, Bonnie and Clyde has become a modern touchstone. Wonderful performances accentuate the sharp script by Robert Benton and David Newman,…
The Defiant Ones
The Defiant Ones 1958, NR, 97 min. Directed by Stanley Kramer, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Tony Curtis, Sidney Poitier. Nearly a decade before the supper-table racial detente of Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, Kramer mined the subject matter of racial divisiveness in the groundbreaking The Defiant Ones, which paired Curtis and Poitier…
Mitchell
Mitchell 1975, R, 97 min. Directed by Andrew V. McLaglen, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Joe Don Baker, Linda Evans, John Saxon, Martin Balsam. A detective played by Joe Don Baker goes after drug dealers – and also porn, Schlitz, and Linda Evans.
Exhibitionism
With a single setting, one act, and two actors, Amos Kamil’s play The Flame Keeper is decidedly simple in form, but it is far from simplistic, grappling with issues of identity and responsibility that are enormously complex.
Surf and Turf, Travis-Style
Texas Star Kitchen 1602 S. RR 620, 402-0222 Monday-Friday, 6:30am-9:30pm (breakfast until 10:30am); Saturday, 7:30am-9:30pm (breakfast until 11:30am) After years of working for successful restaurant chain outfits, Chuck and Camille Goodman decided to strike out on their own, and Texas Star Kitchen was born. The Southwestern takeout cafe has been building up a loyal following…
Phases and Stages
Like, Omigod! The ’80’s Pop Culture Box (totally)(Rhino) If there’s a finite number of ways to rearrange the New Wave hits of the Eighties, it’s a sure bet Rhino Records is going to keep working at it until they hit that number. Even before the Eighties retro movement hit in earnest, it seemed that the…
Naked City
Meanwhile, U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett also directly entered the Longhorn Pipeline fray Wednesday, submitting a lengthy letter to U.S. Dept. of Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta urging him to withhold approval of the pipeline’s “spill response plan,” required under the 1990 Oil Pollution Act. Doggett’s letter recounts in detail the environmental concerns associated with the pipeline,…
The Country Bears
The Country Bears 2002, G, 88 min. Directed by Peter Hastings, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Stephen Root, Toby Huss, Brad Garrett, James Gammon, Candy Ford, Haley Joel Osment, Alex Rocco, M.C. Gainey, Daryl “Chill” Mitchell, Stephen Tobolowsky, Meagan Fay, Diedrich Bader, Christopher Walken. To paraphrase George A. Romero, when there’s no more…
Exhibitionism
In the 14 sketches that make up Blah, Blah, Blah, playwright Lowell Bartholomee skewers Hollywood with situations and dialogue that are clever and perceptive, but the actors seem to be working to put it across, straining even, when it really doesn’t need the hard sell.
Surf and Turf, Travis-Style
Helen’s at Yacht Harbor 16410 Stewart, 266-9386 Daily, 11am until “the last customer leaves”; closed Monday Only in its third month of existence, Helen’s has already gone through its first Lake Travis flood. It remained closed for a week for cleanup and remodeling, resulting in a fresh and funky seaside décor. The place is now…
Phases and Stages
David BowieZiggy Stardust (EMI/Virgin) Thirty years after its release, The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust & the Spiders From Mars is widely heralded as one of the finest and most influential albums of the Seventies. Recorded mostly live in the studio in late 1971 and featuring Bowie’s definitive band — led by guitar hero/singer/…
Naked City
It’s been a busy couple of weeks for top drug cop John Walters, head of the White House Office of the National Drug Control Policy. In a July 19 Wall Street Journal op-ed, Walters lamented the vagaries of drug legalization proponents, predictably regurgitating the same ol’ prohibition-friendly arguments: Pro-legalization folks are wrong about potential benefits,…
Full Frontal
Full Frontal 2002, R, 101 min. Directed by Steven Soderbergh, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Catherine Keener, David Hyde Pierce, David Duchovny, Nicky Katt, Mary McCormack, Julia Roberts, Blair Underwood, Enrico Colantoni, Erika Alexander. If you fuse the title’s two cheeky associations — brain matter and nudity — I suppose logically one might…
Rude Mechs’ Richardson to Read With Ethan Hawke
At his BookPeople appearance on Friday, Aug. 2, 7pm, Ethan Hawke and his Ash Wednesday will be joined by the Rude Mechanicals’ mega-talented Sarah Richardson.
Surf and Turf, Travis-Style
Legends Cafe 900 S. RR 620 Ste. C-108, 263-4111 Monday-Saturday, 8am-9pm; Sunday, 11am-5pm It was good. It was big. It was warm. And with a coke, it cost only $7. The trend of wrap sandwiches lives on in Lakeway! It would be easy to miss this little cafe buried in a two-level strip mall on…
Phases and Stages
Red Hot Chili PeppersBy the Way (Warner Bros.) The Chili Peppers’ seventh album is a surprise on the order of Adam Sandler winning a Best Actor Oscar, especially since 1999’s Californication implied that the L.A. quartet was content to keep rewriting “Under the Bridge” and count the zeros on their royalty checks. Uh-uh. By the…
Naked City
Last Thursday, the Texas Civil Rights Project and the statewide disability rights group A.D.A.P.T. of Texas filed 12 lawsuits across Texas to commemorate the 12th anniversary of the Americans With Disabilities Act. Travis County’s own honored recipients include Gold’s Gym, Enterprise Rent-a-Car, and Valet Service downtown parking lots; the two advocacy groups also filed a…
Signs
Signs 2002, PG-13, 106 min. Directed by M. Night Shyamalan, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Cherry Jones, Abigail Breslin, Rory Culkin, Joaquin Phoenix, Mel Gibson. Shyamalan, the writer/director (and sometime actor) behind The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable, parcels out information like a triage medic doling out morphine; every tiny bit is carefully considered…
Page Two
The Newspaper That Came to Breakfast: The Statesman’s coverage of the Stratus deal is very hard to swallow.
Surf and Turf, Travis-Style
The Lakeside List 1. HEB Grocery, northwest corner Hwy. 71 W. and Bee Caves Road: Good wine selection here according to our wine expert, who lives in the general neighborhood. 2. Calame’s Canyonside Dining, 3595 S. RR 620, 263-4205: Calame’s is a comfortable dinner house with a spectacular second-story view of the lake to the…
Phases and Stages
THE Flaming LipsYoshimi Battles the Pink Robots (Warner Bros.) Whether you believe the Lips’ last project, The Soft Bulletin, was a Beatle-worthy masterpiece of lush pop or a high-pitched novelty best described as ELO fronted by Neil Young, you’ve been waiting for the band’s follow-up. Like Bulletin, Yoshimi is a vaguely conceptual work, awash in…
Naked City
When Daryl Slusher first ran for the City Council, his campaign distributed T-shirts listing “Ten Ways to Spot a City Hall Boondoggle.” Given the controversy surrounding the Stratus Properties deal — and Slusher’s two votes for it, as well as his frequent hectoring of Stratus opponents — “Naked City” decided to reprint the original boondoggle…
Sex and Lucía
Medem’s film is a bleached-out beauty, hitting our most commanding human emotions – lust to love to grief to rage and back again – while only occasionally striking a wrong chord. – Kimberley Jones
Mr. Smarty Pants
Scooby Doo was almost named “Too Much.””My Sharona” by the Knack, “Bennie and the Jets” by Elton John, “My Generation” by The Who, and “You Ain’t Seen Nothin’ Yet” by Bachman Turner Overdrive were all No. x1 Billboard hits that included stuttering lyrics.Caulrophobia is a fear of clowns.Published in 1899, Canada’s Royal Winter Game by…
Food-o-File
Arson at the Salt Lick and the Salt Lick in The New York Times: What are the odds for both to happen in week? Virginia B. Wood fills you in, while telling all about the Texas Culinary Academy, in this week’s “Food-o-File.”
The Short Unhappy Life of Sophia King
The APD shooting death of Sophia King was a tragedy waiting to happen.
Capitol Chronicle
Texans leap to the defense of Governor and President Bush
Sunshine State
Sunshine State 2002, PG-13, 141 min. Directed by John Sayles, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Miguel Ferrer, Jane Alexander, Alan King, Richard Edson, Gordon Clapp, Bill Cobbs, Mary Steenburgen, James McDaniel, Timothy Hutton, Mary Alice, Ralph Waite, Angela Bassett, Edie Falco. Having resisted the temptation to make a thoroughly mainstream film in a…
Day Trips
Pleasant Hill Winery’s name aptly describes its location on a scenic high spot overlooking the fields south of Brenham. The old barn on the side of the hill has been renovated into a European-style wine shop that is friendly and comfortable. Best known for the little creamery up the road, Brenham also has the climate…
Sophia King: A Brief Chronology
A chronology of the life of Sophia King
The Hightower Report
It’s easy to make nuclear waste safe — just pass a law saying it’s so; and, dishonesty permeates the corporate culture — even CEOs’ golf games.
After a Fashion
… Wherein we listen to a new DJ, see Stephen’s new ‘do and wok, don’t run, for some late night Chinese. Join us?
Every Day Is Dress-Up Day
How to Dress Like You Mean It It all began, as most things do, in preschool. In the morning of my first day, my mother asked me what I wanted to wear to school. The thought had never occurred to me. I was used to wearing whatever I wanted around the house, and, like most…
Beware of Bingo Narcs!
On July 18, an investigator from the Texas Lottery Commission’s Charitable Bingo section informed Continental Cub owner Steve Wertheimer that the club’s bingo night was illegal –way illegal. Why?
Here Comes the Sun
On a breather from The Sopranos, actress Edie Falco soaks it up in John Sayles’ Sunshine State.
To Your Health
I have recently begun to suffer what my doctor diagnoses as carpal tunnel syndrome, apparently connected with long hours at my computer keyboard. I am now wearing a “splint” and have changed my keyboard, but would like to do more. What nutrients might help?
Every Day Is Dress-Up Day
Theme Days, Dances, & Other Special Events While the Griffin School kids don’t need an excuse to dress up, kids at other schools might. Here’s a list of theme days you might consider proposing at your school (and the accoutrements necessary to pull off each concept). Pirate Day Eye patches, swords, jagged-cut pants, black-and-white stripes…
Rules of the Game
Bingo Enabling Act section 2001.551, titled “Unlawful Bingo; Offense,” details three exceptions to rules guiding bingo conductors: Games conducted in private homes are legal if played by fewer than 15 people Games can be played on behalf of an “organization of individuals 60 years or over,” including residents of a nursing or retirement home or…
All I Really Need to Know I Learned Watching Movies
A good student is a prepared student. Here’s our back to school curricula.
About AIDS
World Conference Offers Biannual Ups and Downs The 14th World AIDS Conference, just ended in Barcelona, seemed a curious mix of frustration and passion. On the one hand, there were no major scientific breakthroughs to galvanize the clinical community, and the epidemiological projections for developing nations were grim, even shocking. On the other hand, attendees…
Every Day Is Dress-Up Day
How to Survive This School Year in 10 Simple (Yet Fashionable!) Steps 1) As always, it’s all in the attitude. If someone is picking on you, do your best to make this pest understand that their opinion does not matter. If you have, for example, a pair of shoes that someone just can’t stand, get…
Curtains Closing on Stratus Deal?
The Stratus Properties development deal heads for a third and final City Council vote, just as environmental and neighborhood opponents step up demands for a referendum.
Short Cuts
It’s still summer in the city, but news about fall film-related events means a break in the heat isn’t too far away.
Second Helpings: Slices of Life
Erin Mosow establishes the facts about local pizza establishments in this week’s “Second Helpings.”
Surf and Turf, Travis-Style
Lakeside Dining 2002: By boat or by car, bring your appetite.
Here We Go Again
The Riddlin’ Kids — DIY with a bullet.
Officer’s Conviction Overturned
Based on its finding that the Travis Co. District Attorney’s Office suppressed “exculpatory and impeaching” evidence, on July 26 the Texas 3rd Court of Appeals reversed the April 2001 conviction of former APD officer Samuel Ramirez on official oppression charges. “Under the circumstances, we conclude that the judgment of the jury could have been reasonably…
TV Eye
How a former nurse in polyester pantsuits can spice up your sex life.
Back 2 Cool
The Griffin School kids take us back to high school in style
Surf and Turf, Travis-Style
Rocco’s Grill 900 S. RR 620 Ste. A-106, 263-8204 Monday-Tuesday, 11am-9pm; Wednesday-Friday, 11am-10pm; Saturday, 4-10pm; Sunday, noon-9pm (dinner menu only)www.roccosgrill.com Lately, Houston real estate mogul Rocco “Rocky” Piazza divides his time between the 150 acres he’s developing in Lakeway, the huge Randalls center he’s got going across the highway, and his first restaurant venture. After…
Hurry Up and Animate
A closer look at the Riddlin’ Kids look, courtesy of local animator Lance Myers
Will He, Would He, Woodlawn?
Austin investor Jeff Sandefer plans to buy Woodlawn, the sprawling 22-room Pease Mansion in West Austin’s Enfield neighborhood.
Video Reviews
THE RED SQUIRREL (1993) D: Julio Medem; Emma Suárez, Nancho Novo, María Barranco, Karra Elejalde, Carmelo Gómez. The films of Basque director Julio Medem derive a heady power from their constant proximity to the melodramatic, the grandiose, and even, at times, the downright ridiculous. As with Leos Carax or Harmony Korine, the dead-serious notion of…
Surf and Turf, Travis-Style
Highlands Cafe and Pizzeria 3611 N. RR 620, 266-3335 Monday-Saturday, 7am-3pm, 5-9pm This little gem of a cafe is easy to miss as you cruise along the Ranch Road 620 autobahn, but I definitely recommend taking the extra time to slow down and look. Located in a vacated ZZ Gourmet Pizza space just north of…
Riddlin’ Kids Reviewed
Riddlin’ KidsHurry Up and Wait (Aware/Columbia) Like Dynamite Hack before them, Austin’s Riddlin’ Kids have found considerable success on the Austin airwaves with a sound more mainstream than the slovenly strain of rock that pundits consider true “local” music. The Kids themselves are probably too busy to care, plying that steel-bellied pop/punk that, even three…
Naked City
City Council will consider the Stratus Properties development deal on third and final reading today (Thursday). Members will also consider approval on second/third reading of an ordinance proposed by Council Member Danny Thomas to ban parking in a front or side yard of a residential property. City Manager Toby Futrell presented the city’s proposed budget…
Surf and Turf, Travis-Style
Guadalajara Mexican Restaurant 2303 S. RR 620 #190, 263-8888 Sunday-Thursday, 11am-10pm; Friday-Saturday, 11am-11pm Located in a brand-new shopping center in Lakeway, this is the new location of the original Guadalajara, a popular restaurant near the north end of RR 620 in the Lakeline Mall area. The interior has the expected feel and décor of a…
Reconnection Notice
Sonic Youthman Lee Ranaldo speaks.
Naked City
Just in case you thought we didn’t have enough empty office buildings in our midst, Austin’s supersaturated market is poised to become extra-supersaturated by the end of the year. With the city’s overall office vacancy rate creating 8.2 million square feet of empty space, we can expect an additional 610,000 square feet of new space…
The Master of Disguise
The Master of Disguise 2002, PG, 80 min. Directed by Perry Andelin Blake, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Dana Carvey, Brent Spiner, Jennifer Esposito, Harold Gould, James Brolin, Maria Canals, Edie McClurg. Dana Carvey is a good comic, a great mimic, and maybe even a “master of disguise.” But he’s no filmmaker, as…
Spells-bound
Seattle’s 33 Fainting Spells, which enchanted local audiences with the dance drama The Uninvited in 1997, makes its long-awaited return to Austin.
Surf and Turf, Travis-Style
Johnny Fin’s 16405 Marina Point Rd., 266-2811 Monday-Thursday, 11am-9pm; Friday-Saturday, 11am-midnight; Sunday, 11am-9pm I associate several things with spending a day out on a boat: that film of dried lake water on your skin, wind-blown hair, wet swimsuits under your clothes, and that sudden and highly contagious onslaught of hunger midway through the afternoon. At…
Dancing About Architecture
Can you believe it, another club gone. And another gone, and another gone…
Naked City
Annie, get your gun — we’re going to Wyoming! According to a Dept. of Public Safety press release, on July 25 the state signed a reciprocal agreement with Wyoming, allowing Texans with concealed-carry permits to tote their side arm while traveling in Wyoming, and vice versa. Since 1997, when changes to the concealed-carry laws opened…
Articulations
The Texas Commission for the Arts gives Austinites a chance to see the state’s best artists for free, and praise from the out-of-town press for local playwrights Cyndi Williams and Joe Sears and Jaston Williams
Surf and Turf, Travis-Style
Ciola’s Italian-American Restaurant 1310 S. RR 620, 263-9936 Monday-Thursday, 11am-10pm; Friday, 11am-11pm; Saturday, 4-11pm; Sunday, 4-9pm Happy Hour: weekdays, 3-6pmwww.ciolas.com The dinner menu here is decorated with photos of the original Ciola’s restaurant in Virginia Beach, Va., circa 1949, and individual dishes are named for proprietors Uncle Domenick and Aunt Alice. Earlier this year, the…
Thumbs Up for SRV
Sony Legacy is currently planning another Stevie Ray Vaughan reissue, this one a two-CD set of hit tracks featuring no rarities or oddities whatsoever. Jimmie Vaughan has approved the track selection, but I know, you’re wondering why they should bother with another hits collection anyhow. What’s wrong with the existing ones? Well, nothing, but Legacy…
Naked City
In commemoration of the 10th anniversary of the Save Our Springs Ordinance’s passage on Aug. 8, 1992, the SOS Alliance has planned a variety of activities on the ordinance’s official birthday as well as for the following Sunday, Aug. 11. On Thursday the 8th, catch live music and fun from 7 to 11pm at the…
Exhibitionism
The Company’s production of Boom Town, a stage thriller by film actor Jeff Daniels concerning economic development and marital infidelity, may hit the audience over the head with themes familiar from Hollywood potboilers, but unlike most movies of that kind it leaves its audience with a memorable bang.
Surf and Turf, Travis-Style
Big Dave’s Dam Saloon and Restaurant 1113 N. RR 620, 266-2279 Monday-Wednesday, 11am-midnight; Thursday-Saturday, 11am-2am; Sunday, noon-midnight Just south of Mansfield Dam on the land side of Ranch Road 620 is a place where the other half drink and dine near the lake. I’m not talkin’ about the people who inhabit the multimillion-dollar affairs, with…
Phases and Stages
The VinesStubb’s, July 26 Sometimes a little knowledge is a disappointing thing. Typically, reading about music isn’t as dangerous as reading about film; there aren’t plot spoilers, just opinions and comparisons. If you’ve read anything about Australia’s Vines, you’ve no doubt seen NME’s über-hype: in May they declared the Vines “The Best Band Since Nirvana.”…
Naked City
Critics of the Longhorn Pipeline are quickly running out of arrows to fling against the controversial plan to pump 72,000 barrels of gasoline a day through the 52-year-old line, which runs through South Austin on its way from Houston to El Paso. The coalition of groups fighting the pipeline held a press conference Tuesday afternoon…
